18th Asian Art Biennale starts tomorrow at Shilpakala Academy

Published : Friday, 31 August, 2018 at 12:00 AM Count : 198

18th Asian Art Biennale starts tomorrow at Shilpakala Academy

The 18th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh will begin tomorrow at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) in the city. The Cultural Affairs Ministry and BSA will jointly organise the largest fine arts festival of Asia at National Art Gallery of Shilpakala Academy, said the organisers at a press conference at the seminar room of BSA on August 30.President Abdul Hamid will inaugurate of the exhibition as the chief guest, said Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor while briefing journalists at the press conference.BSA Director General Liaquat Ali said the festival will be a reunion of artists from different countries where Bangladeshi artists will be able to exchange views with them.The Cultural Affairs Minister will be present as special guest while professor emeritus of the Tokyo University of the Arts Tetsuya Noda will also participate in the opening ceremony, he said.Secretary Nasiruddin Ahmed of the ministry will preside over the inaugural session while BSA DG Liaquat Ali Lucky will deliver the welcome speech.There will be two and three-dimensional artworks like painting, prints, photography, sculpture, installation, performance art and new media art.A total of 583 artworks by 465 artists from 68 countries will be put on display at the exhibition which will be open to all from11 am to 8 pm every day.A total 68 countries including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Afghanistan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, The United States of America (USA), Mongolia, Peru, Stein, Italy, Ireland, Egypt, Kenya, Turkey, Ukraine, Iran, Moscow and Germany are participating in the event.Earlier, a jury panel comprising five members with two from Bangladesh and one each from France, India and Spain were responsible for judgment of displayed artworks in the 18th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh as well as selected best artworks for three grand prizes and six honourable mention prizes.President of the Jury Board prominent artist Shahabuddin will announce the names of winners at the inaugural session and later, awards will be given to winners.Each of these awards will be accompanied by a medal and cash prize of Bangladeshi Taka 500,000 (five hundred thousand) and Taka 300,000 (three hundred thousand) for two categories of prizes respectively.Four observers - Artist Jogen Chowdhury from India, Professor Tetssuya Noda from Japan, Dr Marek Bartelik from Poland and Deborah Frizzell from the USA will attend the festival.The exhibition is the most prestigious and biggest art festival of Bangladesh as well as the oldest international art biennale event in Asia. From the beginning to 2014 the event was the platform only for artists of the Asian and Pacific region.In 2017, the organising committee of the exhibition has decided to expand its glory throughout the world. As a result artists from 55 countries from around the world had participated in the 17th edition. And in this year participating countries number 67 including Bangladesh has broken the previous record.Cultural Affairs Ministry Secretary Nasiruddin Ahmed and BSA Fine Art Director Ashrarful Alam Paplu were present at the press conference. -UNB